Stamping type holder



Feb. 14, 1939. R. E. BECKERT STAMPING TYPE HOLDER Filed July 21, 1937Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ST'AlYIPING TYPEHOLDER Application July 21, 1937, Serial No. 154,802

3 Claims. (01. 101-28) The subject of this .invention is a holder forreceiving and securing removable type or dies of the class which areused for stamping figures, letters and other symbols in metal. Such typepieces or dies are usually made of steel, wherefore they are calledsteel type in the trade, and will be so called on occasion in thisspecification; but it is to be understood that such descriptive term isnot in any sense-a limitation of the scope of the invention.

Holders for type of this character have heretofore been made of variousdesigns, and patented, such holders having releasable means for lockingthe removable type pieces in operative position. One such, shown inPatent 1,503,842, August 5, 1924, to J. H. Matthews, possesses a typelock which is formed of a strap or plate of steel normally lying againstone side of the holder and secured to a bolt passing through the holderwhich is adapted to be pressed upon in order to withdraw the lock andrelease the type. This mode of releasing the lock is inconvenientbecause the location of the end of the bolt which is pressed upon, atthe other side of the holder from the lock, requires the holder to begrasped in the hand in a particular way to avoid pressing in oppositedirections at the same time on the bolt by the thumb and fingers of theoperators hand. That is, the operator must take care to grasp the holderin such a way that, whenhis thumb is pressed against the bolt, the otherfingers are not placed across the lock and do not press on the lock inopposition to the pressure applied to the bolt. The grip of theoperators hand must be applied to the holder at one side of the line ofthrust which is exerted on the bolt member of the lock, in order toleave the lock free to move.

The object of my invention is to eliminate the push bolt of thepriordesign and to locate the lock and the pressure member by which the lockis moved to release the type, all on the same side of the holder. Thisis accomplished in the embodiment herein illustrated, by making the lookas a two armed lever having a ledge or lip on one arm for engaging thetype, and an operating arm at the opposite side of its fulcrum forreceiving pressure from the users thumb, and by connecting such lock tothe type holder with a fulcrum engagement between its two arms.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a front elevation of my typeholder in an inverted position approximating that in which it is heldfor insertion and removal of the type;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly cutaway and shown in section on line2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the holder in the position of the precedingfigures;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken on line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the type used with the holder;

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the type receiving end of the holder with thelock removed;

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the type lock removed from the holder andturned so as to expose to View its side which in use is next to theholder;

Figs. 8 and 9 are fragmentary sectional views of the lock taken on lines8-8 and 9-9 respectively of Fig. 7

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary sectional View of the holder taken on lineIll-l0 of Fig. 6.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occurin all the figures.

The holder is made of any metal or metal alloy usually used or suitablefor use in making articles of this character. It has a body part a inwhich there is a socket b at one end for receiving the steel type c, anda handle part it of convenient dimensions for being grasped andsupported in the hand both when the type is being changed and when theholder is placed with its type faces against a work piece and the end ofthe handle is struck with a hammer. The innermost or bottom wall e ofthe socket is a type seat through which the stamping impact or pressureis applied to the type.

The locking member is preferably made of a single integral piece ofsufficiently thick and stiff metal. Its portion 7 at and near one end ismade approximately as wide as the length of the type socket b in theholder, and is provided at the outer end with a latch portion gextending substantially at right angles and adapted to pass through aslot h in the side of the holder body and enter the socket space. Thetype pieces have notches i in their side appropriately located 4 to beentered by the inner extremity of the latch portion when the end of thetype bears against the seat 6. Preferably the latch extremity and notchhas complementally inclined surfaces so disposed as to exert a wedgingaction to hold the inner end of the type against the seat.

The rest of the locking member is of a width less than the handleportion of the holder and terminates in a thumb-key portion 7' which isof shape and dimensions convenient to be pressed upon by the operatorsthumb.

Between its extremities the locking member is provided with alinedV-shaped ridges k extending widthwise of the locking member andseparated from one another in the mid width of the member sufficientlyto leave room for the passage of the holding screw Z, and the lockingmember is provided with a hole m for the screw. The ridges 7c areadapted to enter a V-shaped groove 12 in the side of the holder bodyparallel to the slot h, constituting one embodiment of a knife edgefulcrum bearing.

The screw 1 passes through the locking member into a tapped hole in theholder body, which is located at the proper distance from the slot h toenable the latch projection to enter said slot and to be retractable,without interference, far enough to release type pieces. The axis of thescrew intersects the edge line of the ridges k. The head of the screwoverlaps the rim of the hole m at the outer side of the locking member,and the surface of said member adjacent to the screw is provided with acircular groove 0 of which the surface next to the rim of the hole n isbeveled with a convex, preferably spherical curvature in order to locatethe bearing of the locking member on the screw head as close to the axisof the screw as possible and avoid either binding or looseness of thelook when it is operated.

A pin 1) is placed with a sliding fit in a socket in the side of theholder adjacent to the thumbkey 7' and is continuously pressed outwardby a spring s so that it forces the latch 9 into engagement with thetype through the reaction of the fulcrum screw 1 on the locking lever.In these conditions the surface t (Fig. 9) at one side of the hole mbears against the head of the fulcrum screw. When the thumb-key ispressed upon to withdraw the latch, the locking key is turned about theknife edge bearing, which serves as the fulcrum for this rockingmovement. The height of the knife edge ridge 7c is enough greater thanthe depth of the groove n to hold the locking lever clear of the side ofthe holder and permit so much angular movement of the latch as sufficesto clear it from the type. The fulcrum screw is set to leave enoughspace between its head and the adjacent side of the holder toaccommodate the locking lever and permit its free rocking movement inthe manner described.

It follows from this construction and arrangement that when the holderis grasped in the most convenient manner for bringing the operatorsthumb against the key portion a of the locking member or, conversely,the knuckle of the forefinger against said key portion while the thumbis pressed against the opposite side of the holder, there is nopossibility of the movement of the locking member being interfered withor impeded by the digit or digits of the op-- erators hand at theopposite side of the holder. Also the handle may be so grasped that thethumb and forefinger are directly opposite to one another in the axialline of the spring pressed pin, whereby the thrust applied to the holderthrough the pin by one digit is exactly balanced by the reactionpressure of the digit at the opposite side of the holder.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A stamping type holder comprising a body having a type-receivingsocket in one end and a handle portion, a locking lever in rockingconnection with one side of the holder, having a knife edge fulcrumbearing thereon, a retainer connected to the body and engaged with thelocking lever to hold the latter in the said rocking engagement with theholder; said lever having a latch portion and a key portion atrespectively opposite sides of the fulcrum axis, the latch portion beinglocated to project partially across the socket into locking engagementwith type set in the socket, and a resilient pusher bearing on the keyportion of the locking lever and exerting force thereon tending toadvance and retain the said latch portion in locking connection with thetype.

2. A stamping type holder consisting of a body having a recess in oneend to receive type, a locking lever connected to said body at one sidethereof, a fulcrum screw passing through said lever intermediate itsends into the body and. having a head overlapping the outer side of thelever, the lever having a rocking engagement with the body on a lineintersecting the axis of the screw, and having at opposite sides of suchline of engagement, respectively, a latch portion organized to protrudelaterally into the socket, and an operating key portion so arranged as,when pressed toward the body, to retract the latch portion, combinedwith a pin set into the body back of said key portion and a springengaged with the pin to press the latter outward against the keyportion.

3. A stamping type holder comprising a body having a recess in one endto receive type, a locking lever having on one side a protrudingstraight ridge, V-shaped in profile, the body having in one side agroove in which said ridge is contained and on the bottom of which thecrest of the ridge has rocking engagement, a headed stud passing througha hole in the lever into mounted connected with said body, and having ahead overlapping the rim of such hole on the outer side of the lever,said stud and its head being symmetrically disposed with respect to theline of engagement between the ridge and holder body, and the outer faceof the locking lever being beveled with a convex formation adjacent tothe opposite edges of the hole; said lever having a latch portion and akeyv portion at respectively opposite sides of the line of said ridge,the latch portion being located to bear against the sides of typesplaced in said socket, and a resilient pusher bearing against said keyportion and reacting against the body in the direction to press thelatch portion toward the type-receiving socket.

RICHARD E. BECKERT.

